


Cure Any Curse

by pixiestyxs



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Cursed!Stiles, Curses, Fairy Tales, M/M, Post Season/Series 02, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-01
Updated: 2012-09-01
Packaged: 2017-11-13 07:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiestyxs/pseuds/pixiestyxs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Stiles falls prey to a curse, it's up to the gang to save him. It's said that True Love's Kiss can cure any curse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cure Any Curse

**Author's Note:**

> this was beta'd by the awesome [maderr](http://maderr.tumblr.com/). This is set post season 2 but Erica and Boyd didn't run into the Alphas and they came back.

“Ok Scott, we’re all here,” Derek announces, gesturing around the room where the pack is slowly starting to filter in and take seats. He flings himself down onto a folding chair someone has found and brought in, almost sending it toppling over. Since the hunters have dispersed after the whole Gerard fiasco, they’ve moved out of the train station and back into the burned out shell of a home that is slowly starting to come together again. “Why did you call the pack together like this?”

“Yeah,” Jackson chimes in, “I had plans for today.” He leers at Lydia who just rolls her eyes, but gives him a tiny smile.

Scott fidgets, picking at his shirt as he tries to figure out what he is going to say. He really doesn’t know how to put his thoughts into words for some reason. The situation is way too out there. “Well you see, I think something strange is happening—”

“I’m the Alpha, only I should be calling pack meetings.” Derek interrupts him, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the rest of the pack members as they start to laugh at him. He’s all bark and no bite now that the packs have come together as one again. Peter even goes so far as to smirk delightedly at him from where he stands leaning against a soot covered wall.

“Stop pouting Derek, it’s not a good look for you,” Erica says, smirking at Derek too from where she’s snuggling up against Boyd. He wraps his arm around her and pulls her closer to him. They’re practically inseparable these days, and it makes Scott ache for Allison, but she’s still off trying to put her life back together. They e-mail each other sometimes, but for the most part he doesn’t have much contact with her and he misses her terribly.

“Guys, pay attention to me this is serious. Something weird is—”

“Hey, where’s Stiles?” Isaac calls out, interrupting Scott. The others look around the room as if just noticing that one of their own isn’t there. It’s not like Stiles to miss pack meetings. He seems to live for this type of werewolf stuff, lording over them all of the new things he’s learned about them and the other supernatural stuff that is out there.

Scott throws up his hands in exasperation, his eyes briefly flashing golden yellow. “That’s what I’ve been trying to get to while being so rudely interrupted,” he glares at both Derek and Isaac. “Something weird is going on with Stiles.”

“Weird is like Stiles’ middle name,” Lydia interjects, not even glancing up from where she’s buffing her nails. As a mostly human member of the pack, she just comes to pack meetings as moral support for Jackson. She could really care less about the rest of them. “Wait! Maybe it’s his first name. He’s so ashamed by that fact and that’s why he goes by Stiles.”

Jackson grins at her, nodding in agreement, his hand resting lightly on her thigh. Since his rebirth as a werewolf, they’ve noticed that Jackson always seems to be touching her, almost as if he’s afraid that she’ll disappear on him if he isn’t. His control of his wolf is tenuous, so no one is calling him out on it yet.

“Scott, what kind of trouble did Stiles get into now?” Peter asks, drawing the group’s attention back to the discussion at hand. Scott narrows his eyes at Peter in suspicion, but gives him a terse nod of thanks. He doesn’t trust Peter, and he doesn’t think he ever will, no matter how much of a help he’s been since he came back.

“Well you see, I don’t really know,” Scott begins, stalling for time by cracking his fingers one by one. The wolves all flinch at the sound and send him dirty looks. “I went by his house this morning and his dad said that he hadn’t come down from his room yet. When I went up there, he was still in bed asleep.”

“Not a big surprise there since it’s Saturday and we all know that Stilinski likes to get his beauty rest.” Derek jokes, rolling his eyes at Scott.

“Yeah I know that,” Scott agrees, “but what’s weird is, when I went to wake him up, nothing I did worked.”

Peter raises an eyebrow at that and leans forward, now very interested. “What? He didn’t wake up? What did you try?”

“Shaking him, loud music, calling his name,” Scott ticks off each method on his fingers. He runs his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I even pushed him off the bed but he wouldn’t wake up. Then I felt guilty for pushing him off so I had to haul him back onto it. He’s not that light you know, no matter what he tries to tell you.”

“That doesn’t seem like Stiles,” Isaac says frowning in consternation. “Did he maybe take too many sleeping pills? He does that when his anxiety starts getting the better of him.”

Scott stares at Isaac in surprise. He hadn’t thought that Isaac and Stiles were close enough that Stiles would be telling Isaac such personal things about himself. “No, I think I would have smelled it on him, like I can sometimes do on the days he has to take his ADHD medicine.”

Isaac nods; he’s noticed the same thing from time to time. It must be something that harkens back to their wolfish nature. Dogs are thought to sense illness in humans so why wouldn’t wolves too?

“Maybe he’s in a coma?” Jackson throws out. “Like he had a concussion or something and when he went to sleep, he just slipped away!”

The others nod and start talking over each other, each coming up with a more ridiculous idea than the last about what’s happening to Stiles. Finally, Scott can’t take it anymore.

“GUYS!” The rest of the group quiets down. “I talked to Stiles last night and he seemed perfectly normal then.”

There are a few snorts of laughter at that – Stiles is not what anyone would consider normal, but no one says anything to contradict Scott aloud. 

Finally Derek speaks up. “So you think it’s something supernatural then?”

Scott nods emphatically and says imploringly, “I just don’t know what else it could be.”

The group starts talking among themselves while Derek, Peter and Scott come up with a plan of action. Derek stands up, pacing the floor in front of his seat, starting to issue orders. “Alright everyone listen up! Peter and I are going to go with Scott to Stiles’ house to see if we can find any hints of what’s going on from there. The rest of you are going to see if you can figure out any causes of whatever might be going on with him. Use the Internet or go to the library, I don’t really care, just try to find something.”

“But research is Stiles’ job,” Erica whines, shooting him a disgruntled look. “I hate research.”

“Yeah, well Stiles isn’t going to be researching anything ever again if we can’t figure out what’s going on with him.” Derek snarls at her. She sits back, misery wafting off as she thinks of the possibility of something really bad happening to Stiles. She doesn’t like that idea – he’s her Batman after all, so if it takes her researching to fix him, then she’ll just have to research.

“I want to go with you too,” Isaac announces fiercely, standing up and swiftly making his way over to his Alpha. Derek looks at him for a few seconds in consideration and nods in agreement.

“Let’s move out people.”

~*~

The group going to Stiles’ house makes it there in record time; Derek isn’t one for following the rules of the road, especially when something is going wrong with the pack – he’s gotten more than one speeding ticket to prove it.

The four werewolves step out of Derek’s Camaro when it comes to a stop and quickly head up the sidewalk to Stiles’ front door. They’re thankful that the Sheriff’s squad car isn’t in the driveway; it means they won’t have to lie to him or do something else to get into the house.

“What’s that smell?” Isaac asks, sniffing at the air again now that he’s caught a whiff of the pungent odor. The others stop and take a deep inhale at his words, recoiling as one at the intense smell permeating the air around Stiles’ house that they can pick up now that they’re looking for it.

Scott reaches into his pocket, pulls out his key ring and fits his copy of the Stilinski house key into the lock. “It smells like really rank rose perfume. The kind the babysitter we had when we were kids used to wear.”

“This is awful, why didn’t you mention this earlier Scott?” Peter questions, searching the yard for anything out of the ordinary that could be causing the scent. Derek and Isaac copy him, on the alert for anything strange around the house. They don’t see anything though. The area and surrounding neighbors’ houses all look the same as they did the last time any of them have been there.

Scott glares at Peter and pushes open the door. “It didn’t smell like this earlier or I would have Peter.” He motions for the others to enter the house, and closes the door behind him as he follows. 

Isaac covers his nose with his shirt as they traipse up the stairs to Stiles’ room and ne notices that the smell is intensifying the closer they get to it. It’s a cloying scent; it sticks to the backs of their throats and makes them gag. Isaac thinks that even a human sense of smell would be sickened by it.

Opening Stiles’ door, the group stops dead in their tracks. The sight before them is almost too much for them to wrap their minds around. Stiles is resting on his bed right where Scott left him, body stiff as a board and hands resting on his stomach, the gentle rise and fall of his chest the only indicator that he’s even alive. Tendrils of roses are covering the room; almost no surface is left untouched. The roses start on Stiles’ bed, where they look like they are coming out of his cupped hands, and spread out from there in a rainbow of colors that make Stiles look overly pale in comparison.

“What the hell?” Scott gasps, picking his way over the flowers to his friend’s bed. He reaches out and rubs a petal that is lying on Stiles’ cheek between his fingers, checking to see if it’s real. It is, or at least it doesn’t feel fake. He tugs on it, and notices that it’s attached as if Stiles is now part of the plant itself.

Isaac follows behind him, scowling as a thorn pricks his leg when he steps down wrong. “At least this explains the smell.”

Scott’s hand slides down to Stiles’ shoulder and he tries to shake Stiles awake. For a second nothing happens, but then there is a rustle among the plant leaves and they can see some of the branches starting to move. The werewolves freeze, holding their breaths, waiting to see what’s going to happen next. After a few moments with nothing happening except for the branches settling down, they breathe out in a sigh in relief.

“You were right, Scott,” Derek acknowledges, stepping into the room too. “There is definitely something supernatural going on here. I’ve never seen anything like this before, nor have a heard about this. Have you Peter?”

Peter shakes his head, refusing to step foot into the room now that he’s seen the plants move at the slightest provocation. “No, this is beyond anything I’ve heard of.”

Isaac turns from where he’s examining Stiles’ bedside. “What do we do now?”

Scott turns as well, hoping Derek or Peter might have some answers on how to help his best friend. Derek shakes his head solemnly. “I don’t know.” 

“We could check with Deaton,” Peter suggests. He waves his hand imperiously. “That man always seems to know something about the mystical happenings of Beacon Hills.”

Scott smacks at his forehead in frustration. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Maybe because you’re too worried about Stiles to think rationally?” Isaac offers, attempting to soothe the other werewolf. Scott nods and smiles briefly at him, appreciating the effort.

Derek looks around, taking in the scene once more, but failing to find any clues about what’s happening. “Well, let’s go. Not much else we can do here and those roses are starting to really freak me out now.”

Scott pulls his phone from his pocket and snaps a couple of photos of his friend. They’ll need something to show Deaton, because words really cannot describe what’s currently happening to Stiles.

The four werewolves exit the room, Isaac bringing up the rear. Quickly he brushes a hand softly over Stiles’ forehead – smooths out an eyebrow, plucks a rose and shoves it into his pocket, and then grabs something from Stiles’ nightstand. He hurries after the others down the stairs and out of the house. Hopefully they can figure things out before the Sheriff gets home; otherwise they are going to have a lot of explaining to do.

~*~

Scott calls the others on the way to Deaton’s practice to update them on the situation. Boyd is apparently the research group’s spokesperson, and Scott spends part of the ride listening to him detail out what they’ve looked at so far. It isn’t much; none of them are as good at research as Stiles is.

Scott hangs up the phone, and doesn’t say anything. He knows the others have heard every word Boyd has said. They weren’t finding anything except African sleeping sickness, and that was no help in this case.

“What if Dr. Deaton doesn’t know what’s wrong with Stiles?” Isaac whispers, biting his lip and staring out the window. 

Scott places a gentle hand on his arm. “Don’t think like that Isaac, Deaton will know. He has to.”

They don’t speak for the rest of the ride to Deaton’s practice. Derek cruises his car into the parking lot, slams on his brakes, and parks near the front door. The group spills out and races into the building.

A lady holding a cat carrier glares at them when they burst in. Derek and Peter are clearly startled; they’ve forgotten that Deaton is actually a practicing veterinarian and not just a supernatural guru that should be at their beck and call. His receptionist just glares at them for causing a commotion.

Dr. Deaton steps out of the back, and raises an eyebrow at seeing the foursome standing in his lobby. He turns to the woman with the cat and motions for her to follow him.

“Boys, I’ll be with you in a few minutes when I’m done with Honeybun’s appointment. Until then,” he glares at them and then pointedly turns to look at the chairs lining the room, “take a seat.”

“But Dr. Deaton—” Scott starts, but before he can say too much he’s cut off.

“Sit Scott, this will only take a few minutes.” With that the veterinarian turns his back on the group of werewolves and follows his patient into the back.

“What the hell, Deaton!” Derek yells after him. The receptionist glares and shushes him as if he is in a library. He just glares back.

Scott grumbles, but does as he’s told. Isaac throws himself into one of the chairs, content to wait until the vet can see them. Peter joins him, narrowing his eyes when he notices something in Isaac’s lap.

He reaches for it, but stops at a vicious growl coming from Isaac. He meets the other wolf’s golden yellow eyes and holds up his hands in surrender. He’s never seen the normally docile teenager like this.

“Don’t touch,” Isaac snarls at him and pulls what he’s holding closer to his body.

“What do you have there Isaac?” Derek asks, squatting down in front of Isaac. Isaac shakes his head, refusing to look at his Alpha. He just clutches what he’s holding tighter to his chest.

“Alright people, I’ve shut down the office. What could possibly be going on that you had to barge in here during my work hours?”

Scott scurries over to Deaton, shoving his phone into his face. “Something is going on with Stiles, see!”

Deaton grimaces slightly and takes the phone. “Why thank you Scott.” He frowns as he examines the picture. “Is that Stiles?”

“Yes,” Derek says moving away from Isaac. “Scott said he wasn’t like that this morning.”

“Exactly! He wouldn’t wake up at all no matter what I tried, and when we went to check on him that had happened.” Scott rushes to explain. “Have you seen something like this before?”

Deaton looks at the picture, turning it this way and that, taking in all of the details he can from the small screen. “Hmmm, it seems familiar. In a way.”

“Maybe this will help?” Isaac inquires, standing up and approaching the other man, finally allowing the others to see what he’s been holding onto and protecting so fiercely. It’s a book; one that’s very old by its appearance. The cover is a deep rich blue with gold gilding around the edge. Deaton passes the phone back to Scott and reaches out take the book.

“Where did you get this?” He asks, looking over the intricately styled book.

Isaac shrugs and shifts nervously where he’s standing. “I took it from Stiles’ room. It was on his nightstand.”

Derek places a hand on Isaac’s shoulder. “Isaac, why did you think this was important?”

“I took it, because he didn’t have it last night,” he responds, drawing in on himself in nervousness. “And it has a rose on its cover that looks like this.” He pulls from his pocket the rose he plucked from Stiles and places it on top of the book.

Deaton smiles at him and pats his arm. “Very good, Isaac. Let me examine these and I will hopefully have something to tell you about what’s happening to your friend.”

Scott looks at Isaac in puzzlement. “How did you know Stiles didn’t have that book last night?”

“Um,” Isaac stutters, “I was over last night, you know…hanging out.” 

“Oh,” Scott frowns. “Since when have you and Stiles been hanging out?”

Isaac kicks his foot back and forth against the shiny floor. “Um, we’ve been hanging out for awhile I guess.”

Scott nods at him. “Cool, what do you guys do while you hang out?”

Isaac just stares at him, searching for something to say. “Oh you know this and that, homework, stuff.”

“Awesome! You guys should call me the next time you guys hang out and we can all hang out together.” Scott suggests, beaming at Isaac.

Isaac starts cough but nods in agreement, giving Scott a tight smile when his coughing fit passes.

“I believe that Stiles is cursed,” Deaton announces, looking up from the book. “With the Sleeping Beauty curse to be exact, well that’s the English translation of the curse. It sounds a lot more frightening in Latin.” 

Derek stalks to Deaton’s side, pushing Peter out of his way in his haste. He ignores the other man’s affronted look. “How do you know that?” 

“This book is a telling of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. It also has the faint trace of a curse in progress,” Deaton explains, opening up the book and showing them a few of the illustrations inside. He points at a figure that seems out of place in one of the pictures. “That everyone, is our sleeping beauty, Mr. Stilinski.” 

“What?” Scott gasps. He looks closer and sure enough the figure’s hair is buzzed in the same way that he knows Stiles’ is.

Peter frowns and leans against the front counter. “How is that even possible?” 

Derek rolls his eyes and says with a deadpan delivery, “Magic, obviously.”

“Don’t try and get smart with me, pup. You might be Alpha but I’m still your elder.” Peter snarls, getting right into Derek’s face, finally snapping at the other’s attitude. Sensing something about to happen, Scott pushes Isaac behind him and out of the way.

Derek’s eyes bleed red, his canines lengthening, and he pushes against Peter’s chest. “Don’t test me Peter. My patience for you is very quickly running out.”

“Gentlemen,” Deaton interrupts getting between the two of them like he hasn’t a care at all that he could get hurt, “we have something more important going on than your current power struggle. This curse is very serious, not to mention very deadly for the one under its spell.”

“Dr. Deaton, what can we do to save Stiles?” Isaac pipes up from where he’s being sheltered behind Scott. 

Deaton snaps the book closed. “Well they do say that True Love’s Kiss will cure any curse.”

“You must be joking,” Peter says, rolling his eyes. “There’s no such thing as True Love’s Kiss.”

“You’re just saying that because no one would ever love you enough to be your True Love.” Derek snipes.

“Ouch,” Peter clutches his chest. “That really hurts nephew.”

“Guys, enough snarking. You don’t do it half as well as Stiles does,” Scott exclaims. Saying Stiles’ name sobers the two wolves and brings the group back to the matter at hand. He looks imploringly at Deaton. “Will destroying the book set Stiles free?”

“No, that might even kill him faster. From what I know of this type of magic, the infamous True Love’s Kiss should free him. Otherwise, you would have to find the manifestation of his curse, the guardian of it if you will, and destroy it.”

“Destroy it?” Derek repeats. He ponders it for a minute and then shrugs. “I can work with that .”

Deaton shakes his head. He gathers up the story book and wilting rose and moves to step into the backroom. “I’ve no idea what form it could take. I suggest you gather the troops and decide who’s going to be kissing Mr. Stilinski. I’ll do some research on the manifestation, and call you as soon as I know anything.”

~*~

The sun is setting when Scott’s group arrives at Stiles’ house again. The rest of the pack is already waiting when they pull up. They’re standing outside of Jackson’s car staring at the house in horrified silence. Since they left to go to Deaton’s the roses have burst through the windows and doors to cover the house. The smell has intensified to such an extreme that the wolves are having a hard time just trying to breathe.

“So what’s the plan now Derek?” Erica asks, gasping against the roses’ smell. 

Boyd is hunched over next to her, throwing up the contents of his stomach onto the sidewalk. He straightens up, wiping at his mouth. “Yeah man, doesn’t look like we’re getting in through the front door.”

Derek stalks to the front door, Peter right on his heels. The front door is bulging out, dark green vines with roses the color of dried blood having pushed their way out of the building. “You’re right; these flowers are blocking any way in from here.”

Peter glances up at the second story and gestures at one of the windows. “We should check the other entrances. Those windows don’t look to be as thick with the roses. One of them might let us in.”

All but Lydia turn in sync when they hear tires on the road to the house. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal, cars come up and down this idyllic suburban street all of the time, but every werewolf knows the sound of the engine that goes with that specific set of tires, as well the rhythm of the driver’s heart.

They watch in horror as the Sheriff’s squad car pulls into the driveway. The Sheriff turns off the engine and exits the car, glancing at the group by the street in puzzlement and then turning to look at his house.

His eyes widen and they all hear his heartbeat skip a beat. He gestures at his house. “Anyone want to explain to me why my house looks like something out of an old Disney movie?”

No one says anything. Normally this would be the part where Stiles would run intervention, and without him there, they don’t really know what to do with his father.

He puts a hand to his hip and stares at each one of them for a few seconds. “Is this one of those werewolf things?”

“You know about werewolves?” Derek asks, approaching the other man warily. He glances at the Sheriff’s hip where his gun is holstered but he doesn’t seem intent on drawing it.

The Sheriff shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah, Melissa told me.”

“My mom told you?” Scott yelps. The others glare at him like it’s his fault the Sheriff knows about them. He just makes a nasty face at them.

“Yeah of course, she thought I knew already though, and I did have my suspicions. I was just waiting for Stiles to tell me the truth.” He arches a brow at Derek. “So again, tell me why my house looks like that and where my son is since I can clearly see he’s not with you.”

The group starts babbling over each other, each one of them trying to explain to him what’s going on. “Quiet!” Derek yells, red eyes glowing. The pack instantly shuts up, all of them hunching in on themselves bar Peter. The Sheriff gulps in nervousness. Knowing that they are werewolves is one thing – seeing it for himself is another.

Peter approaches him and throws his arm companionably around his shoulders, steering him backwards to lean against his car.

“Well Sheriff,” Peter pauses and turns to the other man, “is there something I can call you besides Sheriff?”

The Sheriff looks at him balefully. “The Sheriff will do.”

“Right,” Peter draws out the word. “Well you see, Stiles has gotten himself into a little predicament.”

“Stiles is cursed into eternal sleep,” Lydia pipes up helpfully.

“So that’s why my house currently looks like a reject from Sleeping Beauty?” He asks shrugging Peter’s arm off. “Magic?”

Derek looks at him oddly. “You know about Sleeping Beauty?”

“Of course I do,” the Sheriff scoffs, “I have a son who for almost a year believed he was Prince Charming.”

Scott laughs, “I remember that.”

“Right,” Derek clears his throat, “anyway we’re trying to figure a way into the house so one of the girls can wake him up with True Love’s Kiss.”

“True Love’s Kiss?”

“Wait what?” Erica yells out. “Why do we have to kiss Stiles? I don’t want to kiss him – that’d be like kissing my brother.” She shudders at the thought. They’re friends, but she has absolutely no interest in kissing Stiles.

“If anything, I think Lydia would be the one to break his curse. He’s only been in love with her forever.” Scott suggests, Boyd and Erica nodding right along with him.

“Guys, I don’t think–” Isaac begins to say something but is cut off by the Sheriff.

“It could be one of the guys. Stiles is bisexual you know.” The gang looks at him weirdly. He frowns at them. “You don’t know?”

Peter smirks. “That explains so much. I always got the feeling he was checking me out.”

“Oh shut up Peter. There’s no way he would have been checking you out if I was around.” Derek interjects, puffing out his chest.

Several in the group of teens snort, causing Derek to glare briefly at them. “What? I’m the Alpha; of course he’d want me.”

“Can we just get this over with? I’ll fucking kiss Stiles if it means I can go home sooner.” Jackson announces, pushing away from his car. “Plus I’m hotter than all of you, so if he was lusting after anyone it’d be me .”

“Now that I’d pay to see,” Erica cackles. Boyd elbows her to shut her up and she just turns a glare on him. He just smiles and kisses her head in apology.

“And it’s True Love’s Kiss, Jackson,” Isaac says plainly, glaring at him, “not True Lust’s Kiss.”

“Oh burn!” Scott shouts out in laughter.

Shaking his head, Derek motions for everyone to stop joking around and to get back on task. The group splits up and walks around the house, examining every door and window. “I’ve found one!” Isaac calls out. “But we’re going to need something to get through the roses.”

“I think I have a machete in the garage,” the Sheriff yells out from behind the house. “If it’s not overgrown too, we should be able to use that.”

He leads Derek and Peter back around the house and pushes up the garage door. Thankfully, the roses are only just starting to force their way into the room, so they easily locate the rather wicked looking tool and pull it out.

The Sheriff brandishes it at the two older wolves, who back away quickly. Sharp blades and werewolves don’t often mix with good results.

“Why do you have that?” Peter asks carefully, eyes narrowing as they follow the blade’s path.

He just cocks an eyebrow and smirks. “Because I’m the Sheriff.”

“Ok,” Derek says, quickly grabbing the machete out of his hand. “Let’s get this curse breaking show on the road, shall we? I have other things to do.”

He and Peter scramble up the house to the window that Isaac and Scott are crouching next to. It’s the window into in the Sheriff’s bathroom, and the roses have been slow to overtake this room, though they can see that the door to the bedroom is completely blocked.

“We’ll clear a path!” Scott yells down to the others, “then you guys can join us in Stiles’ room.”

~*~

The pack, plus the Sheriff, crowd around Stiles’ bed. There are more people in the room than it can comfortably hold – more people in it now than have probably ever been in it before. They’ve managed to cut away most of the roses from Stiles’ bed, but he still looks tiny engulfed in the roses as he is. The roses have completely taken over his body, leaving only his blood drained face visible.

“What, what’s happening to him?” the Sheriff gasps out, choking on a sob at the sight of his son. He reaches out and caresses his face, and bites his lip sharply, hoping the pain will ease the need to cry he can feel welling up inside of him.

“It’s the curse,” Isaac whispers, reaching out his own hand to touch Stiles. He drops it before he can make contact though. He’s not sure what he would feel from Stiles or if he really wants to feel it.

“Now that we’re all here, we can get started.” Derek announces waving his borrowed machete around. “Who wants to go first?”

“Lydia, you should go first. You’re the one most likely to fix this.” Scott says helpfully.

Lydia looks at Stiles and shudders. She doesn’t want to see her friend like this but she also doesn’t want to kiss him when he looks so much like a corpse. That’s just nightmare inducing. Finally, she steels her nerves and leans down. The group collectively holds their breaths. Lydia touches her lips lightly to Stiles’ and waits a few seconds before pulling back.

Nothing happens. 

Everyone starts to breathe again. A tear slips down Lydia’s cheek. She might be in love with Jackson, but if it took her being Stiles’ one true love to save him, she would have been it.

“I’ll go next,” Erica says trepidatiously, stepping forward and taking Lydia’s place by Stiles’ head. She smooths a finger across his brow and leans down to peck him on the lips.

Nothing happens.

“Well I guess that leaves just the guys.” She steps back, allowing Boyd to wrap his arms around her. She inhales, stopping her own tears from falling, and draws strength from her pack mate.

“I’ll go first,” Scott volunteers. “I am his best friend after all.”

“I really think–” Isaac tries to say something but he’s hushed by the others. He scowls at them but remains quiet.

Scott sucks in a deep breath and quickly kisses Stiles. Again nothing happens. Boyd kisses Stiles, but nothing happens. Lydia pushes Jackson forward, and he, with much complaining even after his earlier boasting, kisses Stiles.

Peter crosses to the bed, ready and more than eager to try his hand at being Prince Charming.

“Guys?” The Sheriff is staring at the panes in the window. They are vibrating in the windowsill. “I think something is going on.”

Before anyone can reply to him, a loud roar sounds from outside. The window shatters inward spraying the group with glass. Being closest to the window he sticks his head out to see what could have possibly done that. He looks around and then scrambles back away from the window, reaching for his holster and drawing his gun.

“There’s a dragon out there!” 

The pack glance at each other. “A what?” Derek asks slowly. Another roar sounds from outside and the house shudders.

The Sheriff officially loses his cool. He was ok with the whole Stiles’ friends are all werewolves. He was semi-okay with the fact that his son is cursed to sleep until he dies. What he is not ok with, is a dragon attacking his house and being questioned about it like he doesn’t know what he saw.

He jabs his gun at Derek. “There is a mother fucking dragon attacking my house !”

Derek backs away from him and sticks his head out to check. “Yep that’s a dragon.”

He leads the pack, plus the Sheriff outside. There, flying around the rose and thorn covered house, they can barely make out the black silhouette of a massive dragon. It shoots a stream of fire at them, lighting a nearby tree on fire, illuminating it to their eyes. The massive dragon is a deep inky black and its wings are massive, bending and straightening as it uses them to power its flight. Its razor sharp talons look especially frightening to the group.

“Who wants to bet that’s the curse’s manifestation Deaton was talking about?” Peter asks rhetorically. 

“Why couldn’t that thing have come before I had to kiss Stiles?” Lydia moans dramatically. Erica smirks and high fives her before Jackson pulls Lydia away from the dangerous creature’s path to somewhere a little safer.

The Sheriff lifts his gun and fires off a shot at the mythical beast. “I don’t care what it is. I just want it dead so I can have my son back.” He lets off a few more bullets at the dragon. The group of werewolves shift and all of them get into a fighting stance. 

The dragon screeches and unleashes another blast of fire at the group. Then it dive bombs at Derek, attempting to take a chunk of him with its very sharp teeth. He tries to swipe at it with his claws but it is flying back into the sky before he can even lift his hand. It comes back at him again and again, not attacking any of the other wolves there.

“We need some way to get it down here!” Derek yells, glaring up at the monster as it circles above them. The Sheriff empties his last few rounds into it, swearing a blue streak as he pats himself down for more ammo. 

“My bullets don’t seem to be doing anything to it except make it mad,” the Sheriff announces, going to his squad car and popping the trunk open. He pulls out some spare ammo and reloads his gun. He slams the trunk shut and turns to resume his assault.

The dragon circles one, two, three more times and with a mighty shriek, it flaps its powerful wings and flies off.

“Where are you going?” Scott yells after it. “Come back!”

“Shit!” Derek swears violently staring after it. “It’s gone.”

“What do we do now?” Boyd asks, werewolf features slowing melting back into his human guise. “We’ll never find it by sight at night, and I couldn’t pick up a scent through this damn smell.”

“Call Deaton,” Derek orders Scott. “See if he can find it for us .”

Scott pulls his phone from his pocket and dials the number to the clinic. He waits a few minutes and almost hangs up before the other man answers. Scott explains to Deaton what’s happened, and a few minutes later he hangs up on him.

“Deaton said we’ll have to wait until morning. He thinks he knows something that we can use to find the dragon, but he’ll have to hunt it down for us.”

“What about the dragon?” Erica demands worriedly.

“He said that only people who have come in contact with the cursed could see it.” Scott answers.

“Probably so that not just anybody could break the curse,” Derek assumes. “Or that’s what I think at least.”

“What are we supposed to do with Stiles?” the Sheriff asks.

“I don’t know if there is anything to do with him right now,” Peter admits. “We might kill him if we take him from the house. Our best bet for saving Stiles will be killing the dragon.”

The Sheriff sighs. “I guess so, but I don’t like this.”

“Duly noted.”

“Mr. Stilinski, you can’t stay here. Come stay with me and my mom?” Scott offers.

The Sheriff gazes at the house. He sighs sadly, thinking of Stiles all alone in the house, and nods in agreement to Scott. “Yeah,” he says gruffly, “that’ll be good.”

“I have a question,” Lydia announces stepping out from behind Jackson. She taps on her pouted lips in thought. “Why did the dragon only attack Derek? I mean the Sheriff was the one shooting at it. Shouldn’t it have attacked him instead?”

No one says anything while they think it over. None of them had even thought of that. Finally Boyd is the one to answer her. “I guess we’ll have to ask Dr. Deaton about that tomorrow. He would know.”

With one last look at the house, the group calls it a night. Each of them is wishing that they didn’t have to leave their friend there alone.

~*~

Isaac climbs in through the Sheriff’s bathroom window. He picks his way carefully out of the room, thankful that the path they had managed to clear earlier has only barely started to regrow. The others think he’s gone home with Derek and Peter, but he doesn’t want to leave Stiles alone overnight, so he’s snuck out and come back to keep Stiles company.

He stops just inside Stiles’ doorway, leaning one hip against it. He gazes around the room, taking in everything that’s wrong with it. He’s been there plenty of times since he and Stiles became … well, if he had to classify them he would say they were boyfriends. They go on secret dates, only hiding their relationship because it’s so new, barely a few months old, and Stiles hasn’t wanted to jinx it. 

Seeing Stiles so pale and not moving physically hurts Isaac. It’s not natural for Stiles to be so still. Isaac has noticed that even in his sleep, Stiles fidgets and moves – sometimes even mumbling or talking to someone. He’s always found Stiles’ hyperactivity and inability to be quiet adorable, and just some of the things that make Stiles Stiles.

Isaac crosses to the bed and hesitates a few seconds before starting to pull up roses from beside Stiles’ head. The thorns cut into his hands, but they heal almost immediately after, so Isaac doesn’t pay much attention to it. He just pulls and pulls until finally the bed next to Stiles is clear of the invasive plant. He settles down on the bed next to Stiles’ head, one leg folded up under his body and reaches out to soothe away the furrows that have formed on the other’s brow.

He leans over and places a gentle kiss on Stiles’ mouth, imbuing it with all of the feelings that he has for him, of love, lust, safety and home—all of the emotions that he identifies with when he thinks about Stiles. He pulls back after a few seconds, hoping that Stiles will spring back to life for him.

Nothing happens.

Tears spring to Isaac’s eyes and he leans over and kisses Stiles again, pressing harder against his lips. Again, nothing happens . 

He wipes the tears from his eyes and then shifts so that he’s curled around Stiles. He feels something encircle his wrist. When he looks down he sees that a rose has wrapped around it, almost as if it doesn’t want him to leave. He smiles at it, thinking it might be Stiles reaching out to him.

~*~

Derek and Scott show up to Dr. Deaton’s bright and early the next morning. Scott has to force the Sheriff to stay with his mom, telling him that when they found something out from the vet, they would let him know. He hadn’t been happy, but after a few moments of consideration he’d declared that he was going back to the house to check on Stiles while he waited for news. The others were just waiting for a phone call with a plan before they mobilized.

On the way to the clinic, Scott calls Deaton to let him know that they’re on their way. He ends the call after Deaton tells him that he’d rather talk in person.

Derek and Scott are somber as they enter the clinic. The waiting room is empty today and Deaton is waiting for them by the counter.

“Well?” he asks. “How did it go?”

Scott shakes his head rapidly. “It didn’t go very well. Everyone kissed Stiles except for Derek, Isaac and Peter. That’s when we were interrupted by a dragon attacking Stiles’ house.”

“A dragon?” Deaton repeats shocked.

“Yes, a dragon.” Derek explains, “Or at least it looked like a dragon. And it shot flames at us like a dragon.”

“Hmm.”

“What?” Scott demands, almost on the verge of stomping his feet like a little kid.

“More than likely, the creature that attacked you is the manifestation of the curse that’s currently killing Stiles.” Deaton goes into the back room to retrieve something. He brings back out a book and starts flipping the pages, scanning for something in particular on them.

“Well?” Scott demands again, fed up with waiting. His best friend’s life is on the line here. Time is of the essence.

“Well,” Deaton places his finger on a paragraph in the book to mark his place and looks up. “It looks like killing the dragon should wake Stiles up if it truly is the manifestation of his curse.”

“That’s great!” Scott exclaims excitedly. Finally, they have a surefire way to wake Stiles up.

“Not so fast Scott,” Deaton says, laying a hand on his arm. “Unless one of you has grown wings and has learned to fly, you’ll need to find some way to bring the beast down to the ground in order to kill it.”

“The Sheriff’s bullets did nothing but make it mad,” Derek tells him.

Deaton shakes his head. “When fighting a dragon, Derek, you need to think a little more medieval.”

The two werewolves fall deep into thought. After several minutes pass, Deaton rolls his eyes at them. “Arrows, you two; you need bows and arrows.”

“Right!” Scott stares at Derek. “Where do we get arrows?”

Derek shakes his head at him in annoyance. “Now I really know that Stiles is the brains of your friendship. Who do we know that keeps their garage stocked with an arsenal of weapons to kill supernatural creatures and is more than likely got access to some bows and arrows?”

Scott sighs and mumbles something. With his werewolf enhanced hearing, Derek can make it out, but he’s feeling a little petty.

“What was that?” Derek asks smugly.

“The Argents.” Scott says louder this time.

“Correct.”

“Now that you know how to kill it, you’ll need to know how to find it.” Deaton announces. Derek and Scott look at him attentively and he smiles, reaching under the counter for something. He pulls out a pendant strung on a bronze chain and holds it in his hands for a few seconds in silence. Then he places it on the counter.

The pendant is of a stylized bow encircled by eight stars. Scott reaches for it and picks it up. “What’s the significance?” He asks, his voice hushed.

Deaton shrugs and smirks. “No significance. It’s just the talisman I like the least and don’t mind getting rid of.”

Derek snorts, his shoulders shaking from his kept in laughter. Scott just scowls at the both of them.

“What is this for?” He inquires placing it back down on the counter roughly.

“Careful,” Deaton scolds. “It will still help you find the dragon when you need to so don’t be so rough on it.”

“How does it work?” Derek asks.

“When you need to find the dragon, just hold it in the palm of your hand and think about what you are seeking. The talisman will find it and place the visual in your mind. It’s up to you to find it after that.” Deaton explains, holding the pendant back out to Scott by the chain. Scott closes his hand around it and gives him a nod of thanks. Deaton shoos the werewolves out of his clinic so they can go save the day.

~*~

“I probably should have called first,” Scott says sardonically as Chris Argent slams the door in their faces .

Derek rolls his eyes and sucks in a quick breath. “The things I do for pack.”

Scott pushes the doorbell once more, but Argent doesn’t come back to the door. Fed up, Derek starts banging on it.

“Argent! Open the door!” he bellows. He doesn’t let up until the door is yanked open.

“What do you want?” Chris scowls, leaning against the door jam and blocking their view into the house.

“We have a situation with a dragon and we need some bows.” Scott says, rushing to explain while he has the man’s attention.

Chris stares at him blankly. “A dragon,” he repeats incredulously.

Scott nods sagely. “Yep a dragon.”

Derek smacks Scott upside the head. “Long story short,” he explains, “is that Stiles is cursed, and the only way to save him is to kill the dragon.”

“Ok,” Chris nods slowly, “why are you here then?”

“We need to get medieval on its ass.” Derek smirks.

“Ah, so you need to borrow some bows and arrows.”

Scott narrows his eyes at Chris. “How did you know that?”

“Dragon, medieval.” Chris shrugs. “I put two and two together.”

“Can we borrow some weapons or not?” Derek growls at him. Chris just raises an eyebrow and stares at him.

“What?” Derek spits out, unnerved by the look.

“What’s the magic word?”

“You’re kidding me,” Scott groans covering his eyes. Derek narrows his and spits out a “Please”.

Chris grins. “Much better. I guess you can borrow a few, but I want them back in one piece or I’ll make you buy me new ones.”

The door flies open next to Chris and Scott sucks in a breath to see Allison there. He hasn’t seen her since that night they’d broken up, and she looks so beautiful to him.

“You won’t need more than one if I’m wielding it.” She says to them, a defiant look taking over her face.

“Allison, we’ve talked about this,” Chris says frowning at her and crossing his arms over his chest.

She glares at him. “Stiles is still my friend, so if I can do something to help him I will.” She shifts around and addresses Derek and Scott. “Let me go get a bow and a quiver and I’ll be right back.” She turns to run to the garage but spins around and points a finger at them, commanding, “Don’t leave without me.”

Chris glares at the werewolves. “See what you did!”

Scott looks at him confused. “No?”

“She was getting over everything that’s happened,” he practically shouts waving his arm at them. “She was staying away from everything supernatural and now you’ve pulled her back in.”

Derek just shrugs. Allison jogs back into the entryway before he can respond.

“I’m ready, let’s go take down this dragon and save Stiles.”

~*~

Scott’s phone rings as he slips into the front passenger seat in Derek’s car. He looks at the caller id and presses the receive call button.

“What’s up Mr. Stilinski?”

“Scott where are you right now?”

“Um, we’re just leaving the Argent’s house,” he exchanges a glance with Derek. Derek turns the key in the ignition and guns it away from Allison’s house. “Why?”

“Because that dragon is back at my house; it swooped in not even ten minutes ago.”

“Why didn’t you call us sooner?”

“Well it wasn’t doing much besides sitting on the house. It wasn’t until Peter tried to attack it on the roof that it got upset.”

Derek jerks on the wheel at that and swerves into the next lane. The car he nearly hit honks its horn at him, but he just flips them off and keeps going.

“Peter attacked it?” Scott asks incredulously.

“Yeah, Isaac advised him that it probably wasn’t a good idea, but Peter didn’t listen to him.”

“Definitely sounds like Peter,” Derek mutters. Scott rolls his eyes at him.

“Well what’s happening now?”

“Hold on. Yep, Peter’s still riding it, trying to make it land.”

Allison looks at him strangely when Scott yelps out, “He’s doing what?”

“Yep Peter jumped on it so it wouldn’t get away. Hold on a sec. Don’t fall off now! Anyway, you guys should hurry over. Isaac’s already called the rest of the troops; they’re on their way.”

Scott just stares down at the phone after the Sheriff hangs up on him. 

“What’s going on?” Allison asks, leaning forward between the two front seats.

“Oh not too much,” Scott answers trying to play it off.

“The dragon is back at the Stilinski’s and Peter’s trying to ride it like a horse,” Derek growls, hunching over the steering wheel.

Allison’s eyes go wide and she sits back in her seat in shock. That’s not something you hear every day after all.

Scott glances back at her. “Step on it Derek.”

~*~

They careen around the corner onto Stiles’ street and Derek slams the car to a stop at the curb outside of his house. He, Scott and Allison jump out of the vehicle and race over to where the Sheriff is standing with Isaac and Boyd.

“What’s the situation look like now?” Derek demands. The Sheriff drags his eyes away from the sky and just stares at him. He purses his lips in thought. “Well, Boyd is the only one besides Isaac that could actually make it—”

“Erica’s mom wouldn’t let her come and apparently Jackson got grounded last night for being out too late. Oh and Lydia didn’t think she was needed since she’s and I quote ‘only human and not going to be kissing Stiles again so Derek had better kill the dragon,’” Isaac interrupts crossing his arms across his chest and staring at Allison. The last time he’d seen her outside of school had been that night at the warehouse when she’d stabbed him with her knives. He shudders in remembrance. “What is she doing here?”

Allison frowns sadly and Scott touches her arm gently and answers. “She’s come to help up bring down the dragon.”

Allison raises the bow in her hand and gestures with it. “Stiles is my friend. I came to help.”

He examines her for a moment, searching every aspect of her to see if she’s telling the truth. Finally he nods. “Glad you came then.”

A roar sounds from above them, drawing their attention to the sky. “Guys! Some help here?” Peter yells at them as the dragon soars overhead. He’s got his claws sunk into the dragon’s neck, and he’s holding on for all he’s worth.

“Allison, it’s time to do your thing,” 

Allison gives Scott a wicked grin and then draws an arrow, sighting the dragon along it as it passes overhead. She’s aiming for its head, really wanting to take out one of its eyes. She’s seen enough nature specials to know that doing that should help bring the beast down quicker.

It makes another pass overhead, Peter clinging to it still, and she releases the arrow with a sharp THWANG. It sails through the sky, slicing the air dangerously close to Peter when it misses the head.

“Hey watch it!” Peter yells, glaring down at her. “That thing could have hit me.”

“Sorry,” she calls out, not really sorry at all. It’ll only be what he deserves.

She changes tactic after the second time she misses the dragon’s head. The wolves are getting agitated the longer it’s taking. She notches an arrow and releases it, aiming for the dragon’s large wing as it passes over the house. Quickly she aims another one and tracks the dragon as it wings back around, releasing it and watching as it strikes the opposite wing.

Derek catches on to what she’s doing and yells out at Peter. “Peter, shred its wing!”

“Oh, yeah,” Peter answers dryly. “Let me get right on that while this thing does its best to shake me off!” Belaying his words, he adroitly maneuvers himself back to the dragon’s right wing, and keeping one clawed hand deftly in its hide, he reaches out with the other and starts slicing into it.

The dragon gives a great roar and begins trying to buck Peter off of it. It flaps the wing that Peter has sliced into, which only makes the hole in it larger. It starts to spiral now as it flies above them, slowly losing altitude. Peter climbs over its back nimbly now that it’s concentrating more on flying than on throwing him off. He slashes at the other wing and the dragon gives a mighty roar and shoots out a blast of hot fire above the heads of the pack.

It lands on the ground with a thud, and Derek signals for the group to attack. Allison steps back from the action on the off chance that she might hit one of the good guys; the Sheriff does the same, afraid of shooting one of the wolves.

Peter jumps down and joins Derek, Boyd, Isaac and Scott in tearing into the dragon with teeth and claws. It swats at them with its still mighty wings, sending Boyd straight into the side of the house. Scott gets a razor sharp tail to his side which slices into his flesh like a knife into butter. He howls in pain and drops back away from the fight to collapse at Allison’s feet. He waves her away when she tries to pull at his shirt to look at the wound. 

“I’ll be fine,” he gasps, pressing on the wound. “I can already feel it healing.”

Peter pulls Isaac out of the way of the dragon’s teeth, practically throwing him to the other group. “Out of the way pup.”

The beast snaps at him as he steps toward it, distracting it enough for Derek to get in and slice into its right eye. It roars in pain, its eye collapsing in on itself and oozing a black ichor. The two wolves take advantage of the dragon’s newfound blindness, concentrating their attacks on that side.

Boyd groans from near the house, and the others watch him stagger to his feet. He blinks rapidly and lopes over to them. Derek does a running slide under the dragon and tears his claws through its softer underbelly.

More black ichor rains down on the ground behind him, and the dragon stills. It gives one last puff of smoke and a wounded groan before collapsing on its side. The ground shudders on impact and the group fights to stay standing. 

Allison cheers and the others congratulate Derek on his kill. Peter even slaps him on the back in camaraderie. The group steps up to the dragon and inspect it, making sure it’s really dead.

“What’s going on?”

Everyone turns away from the dragon carcass in the Stilinski front yard to the door to the house. Stiles is standing there, leaning against the door for support. The Sheriff races to him, wrapping his arms around him and hugging him hard.

“Stiles, you’re ok.”

Stiles glances around the yard at everyone and then looks back at his father. “Yeah I’m really weak for some reason, but ok I guess. I feel like I slept for a long time though.”

“You did,” Scott says, crossing to the door and slugging Stiles lightly on the arm.

“So what’s going on then?” Stiles repeats.

“Well you see—”

“What the hell is that?” Stiles exclaims, gesturing at the dragon laying in the yard.

“That was the keeper of the curse you were under,” The Sheriff explains, escorting Stiles over to where the rest of the group is standing.

“Curse?”

Boyd reaches out and touches Stiles’ arm, reassuring himself that he’s really ok. “Yeah dude, you were under this nasty curse, but we took care of it. Well Derek and Allison took care of it.”

“What kind of curse?”

“Deaton said it was a Sleeping Beauty type curse. Isaac brought him a story book that we think housed the curse.” Peter explains. Stiles glances at Isaac standing next to Boyd and he gives him a gentle smile.

“Yeah,” Scott says, approaching the dragon and poking it with his foot to show it was dead. The beast gave a great shudder and then exploded, showering the group with the black ichor.

“Ew,” Stiles grimaces knocking the stuff off of his arms and body. “So the book I found the other night was the cause of all of this?” He asks gesturing from the black ichor floating around the lawn to the broken windows and doors of the house that have roses coming out of them.

“Yes, where did you get that book Stiles?” Peter inquires.

Stiles shrugs. “The doorbell rang the other night, and when I went to answer it the book was laying on our front porch. I didn’t think anything of it.”

“Well that book was cursed and it was sucking your soul into it.” Peter says, scowling as he tries to get rid of the black substance of himself. It’s similar to glitter – once it gets on you you’ll never get it off. “Deaton didn’t give us a time frame, but he was pretty clear that if we didn’t find a way to uncurse you, you would die.”

Stiles frowns at the thought of dying. “What did you try?”

“Well Deaton said that True Love’s Kiss might fix you, so we all kissed you.” Boyd states plainly.

“Who did?”

“All of us—me, Scott, Jackson, Erica, Lydia—well everyone but Derek, Peter and Isaac,” Boyd responds.

Stiles stares at him in shock. “Wait I missed getting kissed by Lydia? No fair!”

Everyone laughs at him. “That’s what you’re upset about?” Scott asks.

“I just can’t believe I missed it is all,” Stiles says shrugging. “So then if it was True Love’s Kiss, how did I wake up?”

“Deaton also said that if we found and killed the keeper of the curse you would wake up.” Derek answers, his voice gruff.

“Oh so killing that dragon woke me up?”

Derek nods and stalks over to Stiles, gripping his face in his hands and taking his lips in a rough kiss. Stiles flails against him, his hands pushing uselessly at his chest. Finally Derek pulls away.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Stiles demands, breaking free of Derek’s hold and backing away. His eyes dart around the group but everyone just acts like this is perfectly acceptable.

Derek looks at him confused. “I slayed the dragon.”

“So?”

“So,” Derek says, talking to Stiles like he’s a little kid, “that means that you’re mine now. It was an analogy for True Love.”

“I don’t think so.” Stiles shakes his head.

Derek’s eyes widen in shock at Stiles’ insolence. He slayed a dragon to wake him damn it! “Why not?”

Stiles shrugs seemingly unconcerned. “I’m already spoken for.”

Now Derek and the rest of the group’s eyes are bugging out of their heads. “Who?” Derek demands, shaking him by the shoulders.

Stiles tries to slap his hands away. “Dude, knock it off.”

“He’s dating me,” Isaac says plaintively. Stiles smiles widely at him, thankful that they’re finally coming out about their relationship, even though it was mostly his idea to stay secret. “But,” Isaac continues, “I think you should be with Derek; he slayed the dragon after all.”

Stiles shakes his head in denial. “No.”

“Since when have you and Isaac been dating?” Scott asks in bewilderment.

Stiles shrugs miserably. “Since the rave.”

“I could have told you that. The number of times I’ve walked in on them making out …” Sheriff Stilinski trails off at his son’s glare.

Derek glares at him too. “You knew, and yet you still let all of us try to wake him with a kiss?”

The Sheriff just shrugs nonchalantly. “I wanted my son cured and I was going to do anything to achieve that.”

“Dad!”

“I kissed you ok?” Isaac shouts out miserably. Everyone turns to stare at him. “I stayed with you last night. And I kissed you, and you didn’t wake up.” He tries to blink back tears, but they just start falling from his eyes.

“Isaac,” Stiles whispers reaching out to his boyfriend.

“And I was useless in the fight against the dragon,” he says swiping at his eyes.

“So?” Stiles takes Isaac’s hand in his. “When I was asleep, I was in the weirdest dream. Although knowing what I do now about the curse it isn’t that weird.” He gestures in irritation. “Anyway, when I was in that dream, I tried my hardest to find you Isaac. I saw all of the others, but I couldn’t find you.”

Isaac tries to yank his hand out of Stiles’ grasp. “Maybe that’s a sign!”

“No,” Stiles denies emphatically. “Every time I turned a corner and you weren’t there, I could feel a piece of my heart breaking. And I think that if it had broken completely I’d be dead right now. But I held out hope that I would find you, because I love you.”

Everyone just stares at them as Isaac tries to pull himself together. “How do you know?” Allison asks, speaking up for the first time since the dragon fell out of the sky. “If you’ve only been dating for this short amount of time, how do you know?”

Stiles sneers at her, gripping Isaac’s hand tight. “How did you fall in love with Scott so quickly?”

She recoils as if stung. She tries to say something and then just closes her mouth and gives him a nod in acknowledgment. Scott reaches out and grasps her hand, giving it a squeeze. She squeezes back and gives him a tumultuous smile.

“Why would you want Isaac?” Derek points at the teenager, “When you could have me?”

Stiles snorts. “Ego much?”

Derek frowns. “It’s not ego Stiles. I’m the Alpha and you’re worthy of being the Alpha’s mate.”

“He’s right,” Peter interjects, “even I knew that back when I was crazy.”

The Sheriff gives him a strange look. “What?”

“Never mind about that. But Stiles you’re smart, loyal, loving, everything an Alpha could want in a mate. Why would you choose a Beta?”

“Because I’m human, and I don’t think in those terms no matter how much you might want me to,” Stiles admits. He turns to Isaac. “I like you flaws and all Isaac. I don’t care about your standing in the pack. I care about the way you treat me – like I’m one of the most precious things you’ve ever seen.”

“You are,” Isaac whispers to him. “Besides the Bite, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“And that,” Stiles says turning to Derek and the others, “is why I’d rather be with Isaac than you. He sees me as more than just an asset to the pack. I mean Derek, are you even attracted to me?”

Derek thinks about it and studies Stiles.

“Derek!” He shrieks and stamps his foot.

“What?” Derek snarls, “I’m thinking!”

Boyd snickers. “You shouldn’t have to think about it bro. Either you do or you don’t.”

Derek shoulders slump. “I mean I could, but you’re a little too mouthy for me.”

“Great, now that that’s settled,” Stiles slides his hand around Isaac’s neck and pulls him into a soft kiss. Isaac shifts Stiles around, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him flush to him. For Isaac, kissing Stiles is like coming home. It’s love and safety wrapped in a pair of soft lips.

He pulls away from Stiles. “I love you,” he whispers.

Stiles grins and pecks him on the lips. “I love you too.”

A rush of wind sweeps through the yard and around the house at their declaration. With a flash all of the remnants of the dragon vanish from yard and person, and when Stiles looks back at his house it looks perfectly whole as if nothing has happened.

The others exclaim and talk over one another about what’s happened, but Stiles just pulls Isaac back into another kiss. Magic is a fickle thing after all, Stiles thinks, because he certainly is getting his True Love’s Kiss.


End file.
